View full sizeMotoya Nakamura/The OregonianCharlie Earnshaw, 32, of Anchorage, Alaska, participated in the first National Beard and Moustache Championships in Bend.Does your beard hang low, does it swing to and fro?

Can you tie it in a ribbon, can you tie it in a bow?

It does, and they did, at the inaugural National Beard and Moustache Championships on Saturday in Bend.

Vying for one of the $1,000 prizes in four categories (best mustache, best partial beard, best full beard, freestyle), 189 contestants walked the catwalk before a cheering audience at the Les Schwab Amphitheater.

Many in the crowd wore fake mustaches of black, brown, blond or pink. An eight-member jury (including Sarwan Singh of Surrey, B.C., who holds a spot in Guinness World Records with the longest beard at nearly 8 feet) decided the winners.

Contestants also were provided free beer. According to Phil Olsen, a lawyer from Lake Tahoe, Nev., and self-appointed captain of Beard Team USA, Bend was chosen for its craft breweries and other attractions.

The event seemed to be more about the camaraderie than the $1,000 prize in each category.

"Being a 27-year-old kid with a whoop-de-whoop mustache," said Andrew Huston of Grants Pass, "the longer I had it, the more I liked it. Now I get to come here with other people with a lot of facial hair. I feel more like I fit in."

Here are the official results of the 2010 National Beard and Moustache Championships, held Saturday in Bend: